Manchester City take on Chelsea in the semi-final of the FA Cup at the Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
The Cityzens suffered a shock 2-1 league defeat to Leeds United last weekend, but made amends with an impressive 2-1 triumph over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
The victory ensured their progress to the last four of the competition with a 4-2 aggregate triumph. They will face off against Paris Saint-Germain for a final berth next month.
Pep Guardiola’s side will be aiming to keep their hopes alive of an unprecedented quadruple this weekend when they come up against league rivals Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final. The bookmakers reviewed by Telecomasia.net have Man City as the favourites to win this tie, although rivals Chelsea are the second-favourites to win the title.
In short, the betting odds indicate that the winner of this tie will be the favourite to win the FA Cup trophy as well.
Team News:
Manchester City:
Sergio Aguero could be a potential absentee for the game after Guardiola revealed that he has been unable to train due to ‘niggles’.
The Argentine has made just 15 appearances this term due to multiple injuries, coronavirus and the vast competition for places.
His absence will provide some relief for the Blues, given he has bagged 15 goals in just 21 appearances against them.
Chelsea:
Mateo Kovacic seems certain to miss the Cup clash after picking up a hamstring injury prior to the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final tie against Porto.
The Croatian has been hugely impressive with his tireless workrate and regular forward runs, and will be a huge miss for the west London giants.
Predicted Line-ups:
Guardiola has constantly chopped and changed his options in the starting line-up, and no one has been able to predict the exact XI. However, he may go with his strongest XI for this game.
There could be a couple of changes from the Dortmund win with Joao Cancelo and Gabriel Jesus coming in for Oleksandr Zinchenko and Bernardo Silva respectively.
Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson Moraes; Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Joao Cancelo; Rodrigo, Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin de Bruyne; Riyad Mahrez, Gabriel Jesus, Phil Foden.
The Blues could make a solitary change from the 1-0 loss to Porto in midweek. As per the latest Chelsea news, Andreas Christensen could come in for Thiago Silva at the heart of the backline.
Chelsea (3-4-2-1): Edouard Mendy; Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger; Reece James, Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, Ben Chilwell; Mason Mount, Christian Pulisic; Kai Havertz.
Prediction:
The Blues have been impressive since Thomas Tuchel took charge as the manager in January, and they have vastly improved on their defensive record.
However, they have kept just the solitary clean sheet since the last international break. Meanwhile, there has been some criticism over their shot-to-goal conversion rate.
It should be an open contest between the clubs, and the game could be decided by which team is able to capitalise on their chances on goal.
The Cityzens will obviously create more scoring opportunities, and their big-game experience should see them prevail against their league counterparts.
Chelsea 1-3 Manchester City
Stats from Transfermarkt.com